


Second Time Lucky

by StarlightDragon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Charlie Bradbury/Jo Harvelle, Prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 16:55:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4027633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightDragon/pseuds/StarlightDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his friend Castiel Novak has a disastrous junior prom, Dean Winchester vows to make up for it by taking Cas himself in senior year - just as friends, of course - and giving Cas the prom experience he always dreamed of. Actually falling for Cas was never part of the plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Time Lucky

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So, I KNOW I already wrote a prom AU for Destiel, but you can never really have too many... also, now that I'm in college I no longer get to go to prom so I'm living vicariously through these two.
> 
> This is based off the recent news story about the straight guy who asked his gay friend to go to prom with him (http://anthonysexc.tumblr.com/post/117065559798/guess-who-got-asked-to-prom-by-a-straight-guy) Now, I'm not trying to suggest that anything like this happened between those two, but I saw the tumblr post and my mind immediately went 'that would be one hell of a Destiel AU', so I made this exist.
> 
> This is the longest fic I've written yet, and feedback would be great!

Dean Winchester remembered, it seemed, every moment of his time spent with Castiel Novak. He remembered Cas on Skype with him the previous May. He remembered the look on Cas’s face as he struggled so hard not to cry; the way his voice cracked around every word and the way he had to pause every few seconds to swallow and gather his thoughts. Dean remembered it all so clearly, and it broke him inside, and it was something he could never risk happening again.

It wasn’t like Dean and Cas had even been close at the time. Dean had been surprised to get the call – it was one in the morning and he’d just finally got Sammy to put down his book and go to bed. Dean had been considering watching a movie; enjoying having some time to himself for a bit before going to bed, when his computer had buzzed with the incoming call. He and Cas were friendly back then, and they messaged on occasion, but this was the first time either of them had actually called the other. Curious, especially considering the late hour, Dean had picked up. 

He’d been greeted by a seventeen year old boy with teary red eyes and perfectly gelled hair; the exact opposite of the scruffy but smiling kid Dean normally saw around school. Immediately, he’d switched off the TV and focused all his attention on the conversation. “Cas, are you alright?”

He’d never used the nickname before, but it had seemed like a good idea.

Cas shook his head, struggling to speak. “I’m sorry, I know you weren't expecting this, but I didn’t know who else to call. Everyone else from our grade is out. And I can’t talk to my family about this.”

“What, everyone?” Dean blurted. He knew it was Saturday night and all, but there had to be at least a few nerds who’d stayed inside. And then- “Oh, shit, it’s prom, isn’t it?”

Cas nodded. Well, that explained the hair and the blazer. “Yeah. And I remembered you saying you weren’t going and I know you usually stay up late and I just thought… but if you’re busy you don’t have to talk to me.”

Dean cut him off. “I’m not busy, and I want to talk to you. Can you tell me what happened?”

Cas sucked in a breath, sounding like it was difficult for him just to do that. “Yeah. Okay. Well, back when tickets first went on sale I didn’t think anyone was going to want to go with me, and then Balthazar asked me, and you know I’d kind of liked him for a while. And I was so excited, and I figured he was going to, I don’t know, take me to dinner and buy me flowers and stuff. But then he turned up at my house tonight and he was late and he was just in his regular car and he was wearing jeans and he just didn’t seem to care. He barely spoke to me on the way over. And then he danced with me a few times and left me and I was completely on my own for most of the night and then when I went to find him when it ended so he could drive me home I found him making out with two other guys and the whole time I just looked so stupid! I was so excited and now everyone's going to laugh at me and I just can’t believe I hoped…”

“That guy is such a douche!” Dean burst out as soon as Cas was done. Cas had probably been hoping for sympathetic, but Dean couldn’t help himself from getting angry. “Where the hell does he get off acting like that? You deserve so much better. You wait, I’m gonna fuck him up for this on Monday,” Dean growled.

Cas looked startled. “You can’t do that! I don’t want him to know it's a big deal… I just want to forget about it.”

But Dean hadn’t been able to forget about it. That Monday at school, he’d specifically sought Cas out and asked him to eat lunch with him. That one meal had turned into a regular lunch arrangement twice a week for the rest of the year, once Dean found out that Cas was actually a great conversationalist when he _wasn’t_ almost in tears, and was actually far more interesting than most of the other people Dean knew. They’d hung out during the summer, too, including that one memorable time they’d taken a road trip to the beach in Dean’s dad’s Impala. This year, they were in the same English class, which led to shared tables in study hall and late night phone calls where Dean begged Cas to tell him about the assigned reading that Dean had, of course, forgotten to do. Slowly, over the past almost a year, Cas had become one of Dean’s closest friends, and while the rest of their circles rarely interacted, they made it work.

On some level, Dean knew that since he’d really started hanging out with Cas, he’d become more focused and hardworking; more motivated to actually do something with his life. It was even Cas who had given him the final push to apply to a couple of colleges in the area for next year, something he had been on the fence about for a while. And Dean wanted to do something in return. There wasn’t a lot he was really capable of doing for Cas, but he did have one idea set aside, something he’d thought of a few months ago now, but had been saving for this moment in particular. 

It was the first day of school after spring break. The sun was out but the air was still cold, and the kids who’d braved going outside without a jacket were shivering on the walk to school in the morning air. Dean was not one of those kids, but he would bet a large amount of money on the fact that Castiel was.

It took Cas a while to arrive. For someone who claimed to actually enjoy school, he was late alarmingly often, and Dean was a little worried about missing first period History. Luckily, today was one of the days Cas actually managed to show up around ten minutes before the start of school, meaning there were plenty of other kids still around when Dean called to him in front of the main entrance.

“Cas!”

“Dean! What's up?” Cas replied, jogging over to meet his friend, smiling. As predicted, he was wearing only a thin shirt, and Dean knew he had to make this as quick as possible so that Cas could get inside where it was warmer.

Dean cleared his throat, suddenly nervous that Cas was going to think he was stupid. But it was too late to back out now, now that he'd got everything planned, so he got down on one knee and flipped open the box he was holding, revealing two prom tickets.

Cas squinted up at Dean, tilting his head to one side.

“Okay, so I’m straight, Cas, right? But here’s the thing, I don’t have a girlfriend, but I do have you and you’re one of the most important people to me. And I think you deserve to have the most amazing senior prom ever. And if you go as my date, I promise you you’ll get that. I understand if you had other plans or something, but honestly, there’s nobody else I want to take, and so… Castiel Novak, will you do me the honor of accompanying me to prom?”

Castiel blushed furiously as Dean made his speech. A crowd gathered, ignoring the bell ringing to signal five minutes until class, waiting to hear what Castiel’s response would be. Dean looked up at Cas nervously, wondering if he’d messed up big time here.

After a few seconds - that felt like days and days to Dean - Cas smiled warmly. “Thankyou, Dean. This means a lot. And of course I would be more than happy to go to prom as your ‘date’.”

“It’s a date, Cas, there’s no need for air quotes,” Dean smirked, getting up and throwing his arms around Cas. Some people around them took pictures, and Dean was well aware that they’d end up on Facebook by the end of the day and then Sammy would find out all about this, but he could deal with a bit of teasing. Prom wasn’t his thing at all, but any time he spent with Cas was something worth doing, and the alternative was another night spent sitting at home messing around on his computer, and so he was looking forward to it. He asked Cas about color coordinating outfits and what kind of car he wanted as he walked Cas to his first class, an arm slung around his friend’s shoulders, and though Cas was shaking his head and rolling his eyes at Dean, it was in a fond way, and Dean could tell he was excited too.

Dean couldn’t stop smiling while he sat in his classes that day, which didn’t make any sense. The way he was smiling, it was like he’d just _actually_ scored himself a prom date, rather than just agreed to go with his friend. He must have looked like such a dork, just sitting there grinning to himself while taking a math test or while making notes on the proper way to assign electron configurations to an atom. Not that he was really concentrating on either of those things. No, he was far too busy picturing himself and Cas pulling up to prom together, having the whole senior class turn in shock when they saw them. Dean magically becoming a decent dancer overnight and spinning Cas around to loud applause; Cas being elected prom king; the whole student body snapping photos for the yearbook as the two of them waved on…

It was a stupid, idealized, movie version of prom playing out in Dean's head, and he knew from Cas’s stories of last year that the truth would be a lot closer to a dimly lit shabby hall with a bad cover band playing at the back and too many kids getting caught spiking the punch, but hey, this was a fantasy. Just something to keep him going during a dull day.

It wasn't like it was what he actually wanted to happen.

“Hey, Sammy, you home?” Dean called up the stairs as he barreled in through his own front door just before four. The middle school was a ten minute walk from their house, so Sam usually got back a little before him, unless he stayed behind to talk to his friends. More often than not, though, Dean’s brother was already up in his room when Dean got back, just starting work on his homework for the night.

“Upstairs,” Sam called back, confirming Dean’s suspicion. And he hadn’t objected to being called Sammy, which had pretty much become Dean’s way of determining what kind of mood Sam was in that day, so Dean went to visit him. 

Dean jogged up the stairs and pushed into Sam’s room, basically assuming the last comment had been an invitation, and found Sam sitting cross legged on the bed, already watching the door and smirking.

“Hey, what are you looking so pleased with yourself about?” Dean frowned, already wary.

Sam didn’t say anything; just kept looking at him like he knew something Dean didn’t.

“I’m serious, if you don’t tell me what’s going on right now…”

It was only a playful threat and they both knew it, but Sam was all too aware that Dean’s ‘playful threats’ often became ‘tickle fights’, and that wasn’t something he wanted to risk, so he caved. “My friend has a sister at your school and she says you’re taking Castiel Novak to prom.”

Dean rolled his eyes. He should have seen this coming, but somehow, in his happy haze, he'd forgotten. “Yeah. Cas is my friend. Of course I’m going with him. I don’t want to take a real date, you know they expect you to put in all kinds of effort, I just want to go with someone who’s going to be super chill about the whole thing…”

He neglected to mention that he planned to put far more effort into Cas’s prom night than he would have done for any other date.

“No, she definitely said ‘date’. She definitely said ‘promposal’.”

“I swear, Sammy, if I ever hear that word come out of your mouth again-“

“Seriously, Dean, I don’t care if you want to date a guy. I mean, Cas is kind of weird, but you always had bad taste in girls too. I won’t tell Dad, but it’s not a big deal to me. My science teacher is gay.”

Dean strode across the room, flopping down on Sam’s bed, causing his pencils to go everywhere. “Look. Cas had a shitty prom last year and this year I want him to go with someone who’s not going to be a dick to him. I don’t actually trust very many people not to be a dick, so I figured I’d do it myself. That’s all there is. I don’t date guys. Never have, never will. We clear?”

Sam shrugged, looking completely unaffected by Dean’s outburst. “Whatever. Get off my homework.”

“Nerd,” Dean shot over his shoulder as he left the room.

Dean considered doing some homework of his own that night, but then, you know what would be more fun? Researching limo companies. Sure, the Impala was awesome, but Cas had to have ridden in it a hundred times at least. He had to have something else for such a big night. And this had nothing to do with the whole 'date' thing. This wasn’t a gay thing to think about at all. This was a car, and cars were manly, and cars were something Dean was interested in. It was totally cool for him to look into hiring a car. Sam couldn’t make any stupid comments about that.

He could definitely stay in safe territory like this, and still pull the whole thing off.

“Hey, Cas. Cas. Caaaaaas,” Dean hissed at the boy sitting next to him in English class a week later; the one who was currently ignoring Dean quite intentionally, turning his nose up and pointedly looking at the teacher.

Finally he turned his head to face Dean. “What?”

“You doing anything after school tonight?”

“Wait a minute,” Cas muttered, and picked up his pocket diary, skimming through it until he found today. Damn, that was freaking adorable, Dean thought to himself. 

“Nope. No plans for tonight,” Cas confirmed after a moment.

“Alright, you do now. You. Me. That little tuxedo place in town. We gotta find ones that fit well, and we gotta do it soon or all the nice ones will be gone and we’ll end up looking like Elvis in those shiny white ones or something.”

Cas nodded. “Yeah, point well made. I’ll meet you by your car after school?”

Dean agreed, and Cas turned back to the teacher. He’d missed a good chunk of the lecture on Pride and Prejudice due to that conversation, but all things considered, he didn’t seem to mind too much.

Cas was waiting by Dean’s car after last period, as promised. It wasn’t hard to find, as Dean usually tried to park in the same spot. It wasn’t officially his, but he’d used it for long enough that most people had got into the habit of leaving it open, unless they particularly wanted to piss him off.

Dean snuck up behind Cas, who was staring down at his phone, and poked him in the small of the back. Cas jumped, stumbled forwards, and turned around, ready to get angry until he saw who it was.

“Hey you,” Dean winked, and Cas blushed.

“Yeah, thanks for making me send my text halfway through,” Cas grumbled, getting into the car once Dean had unlocked it.

“Who’re you texting?” Dean asked, turning on the ignition and starting to pull out of the space.

“Gabriel. He’s being a real dick about this prom thing.”

“Tell me about it. Sammy’s exactly the same. What is it, he thinks we’re actually dating or something?”

“Something like that,” Cas mumbled, a little too quickly. “Totally crazy. Brothers, right?”

The after school traffic wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and it wasn’t long before Dean was swinging them into a semi-illegal parking space in a dingy back street and leading Cas towards the shop.

“Hi, can I help you two?” a friendly voice asked as they approached the counter.

Dean nodded. “Yeah, we’re from Lawrence High. And our prom is coming up soon and… well, you probably have a lot of kids coming in here right now, I'm sure you know what’s going on. So, we’re looking for tuxes.”

The woman looked them up and down, considering. “I can help with that. What are we thinking; do you have any particular styles in mind already? And are you going to be matching? I mean, are you each other’s dates, or…”

Cas opened his mouth to speak, but Dean cut across him quickly, not particularly wanting to explain the whole story. “Yeah, we’re going together. So matching would be good. But I was just thinking we’d go for something fairly plain.” Cas had explained a few days back that he hadn't wanted anything particularly fancy. Dean leaned across the counter and added in a stage whisper, jerking a thumb towards Cas, “I think his good looks speak for themselves.”

Cas’s mouth fell open, and Dean and the store attendant both chuckled.

“I have a few things in mind,” she said, and led them over to a rack of suits in simple, dark colors, selecting a few things as she went.

“Try these on,” she said once she’d gathered an armful of clothes. “If they need alterations, we can arrange that for you, since there’s still a few weeks to go. And if none of them are what you’re looking for, then they should at least give you a good starting point.”

She handed one pile to Cas, the other to Dean, and pointed them towards the fitting rooms at the back of the store.

Dean slipped out of his shirt, jeans and sneakers and put on the first suit. It was navy blue, and slightly too big for him – the cuffs of the jacket fell on top of his fingers and he kept having to shake them out of the way when he was trying to do up his shirt buttons. He studied himself in the mirror. It looked strange. It felt strange. It was nothing like him. He might have worn a formal shirt once or twice before in his life, when the occasion had called for it, but he’d never even considered anything on this level. It looked like something an adult might wear. A serious adult, like an FBI agent or something.

He moved the curtain aside. “Cas, you ready?”

A moment later Cas parted his own curtain, and stepped out, standing alongside Dean wearing the exact same clothes as him, the two of them watching themselves in the big mirror opposite. 

Dean was stunned.

Cas didn’t look dorky or uncomfortable in the way that Dean felt. His suit seemed to fit him perfectly, and he looked like he wore this kind of thing every day, like it was no big deal for him. He looked formal, but also approachable. Like if there was a guy at prom who was actually into Cas – and why the hell wouldn’t there be, when he’d be looking like this – Dean thought that guy would feel like he could safely ask Cas to dance. 

Which was a good thing. Definitely. Dean wanted Cas to dance with other guys at prom. Of course.

“That’s the one,” Dean said, gesturing at Cas’s suit.

Cas twisted around, trying to see the back of his outfit in the mirror. “Are you sure? We can’t just go with the first ones we try on. We have to at least see what the others look like, too.”

Dean pulled a face, but agreed to keep Cas happy, though he knew none of the others would look as great on Cas as that one did. Bored now, he pulled on a grey suit as quickly as possible and barely glanced at himself in the mirror, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Cas to come out.

And then-

“No, I’m sorry. You were right. That’s the one,” Dean burst out immediately once Cas had reappeared, somehow managing to look even better in this suit than he had in the last. How did that work? Did Cas have some kind of special power that made tuxedoes automatically look perfect on him? That wasn’t fair. Dean looked like a complete mess, and there was Cas, just strutting around like he was born for this. The rest of the school didn’t have a chance.

And then, when Cas emerged from the curtain for the third time-

“Never mind. Forget what I said earlier. That one; you’re getting that one.”

The fourth time, he said “I don’t know what I was thinking before, but this one is definitely the right one.”

The fifth time, it was “Okay, so I guess the first four were just like trial runs for this one. This is the best. I’m sure of it.”

The sixth time, “Dammit, Cas. You gotta stop doing this, I mean, did you put them in order from least nice to nicest or something?”

“This is the last one, Dean. You need to give me some help here. I don’t know which one I like, and you haven’t given me any real feedback on any of them.”

“Because they all look great!” Dean spluttered, unable to believe Cas was trying to turn this around on him, when it was actually Cas’s own fault for looking so good in a suit. 

“Which one looked best, though? Could we at least narrow down color? Black, blue or grey?”

Dean scowled. “I don’t know, do I? Which one do you like best?”

Dean was downright scared they were going to get into an actual argument about this – their first ever, it would have been – when the store assistant appeared in front of them. “Do you boys need any help?”

They nodded in defeat.

She sized them both up. “Alright. Well, black is classic, and although it’ll be by far the most popular color, it leaves a lot more room for accessorizing and going for bolder colors with shirts and ties, if you wanted to go down that route. For example…” she studied Cas closely for a moment, “if you wore a light blue shirt, and some kind of dark blue tie, that would bring out your eyes, and you’d still stand out a little from the black and white crowd.”

Dean felt his hand clench into a fist while the woman was gazing at Cas like that, and he couldn’t for the life of him explain why.

They ended up getting the black tuxes; the fourth they'd tried on. Cas’s fit him perfectly already, of course, but Dean’s needed a little adjustment in the waist, so they agreed to pick them up a few days before prom. Dean dropped Cas off around the corner from the Novak house, before driving home himself, completely thrown by what had happened in the shop.

What the hell had that been about? One moment everything between the two of them had been normal, and Cas had been Dean's weird friend who he made fun of and told jokes with and didn’t even notice what he was wearing. Exactly the same as all of Dean’s other friends, in fact. And then Cas had walked out in that suit and Dean’s brain had just… what the fuck?

Suddenly Cas was the only thing Dean could think of. Cas in a suit, but also Cas not in a suit. Cas in casual clothes, in a hoodie and jeans, in a winter coat, in tiny gym shorts… Cas in nothing at all. Cas smiling, Cas laughing, Cas gazing into space deep in thought, Cas sleeping. Cas sleeping _next to Dean._

He pulled up at a red light and smacked himself on the head, trying to literally knock these thoughts out of himself. What was going on? Why, all of a sudden, could he not get Cas out of his mind?

He couldn’t stop thinking about it, tossing and turning in bed all night, barely paying attention in his morning classes, completely ignoring his food as he sat with his friend Charlie at his usual lunch table. He had a serious problem.

He gazed out across the cafeteria, eyes only half-seeing, and vaguely in his peripheral vision, he saw his friend Jo come up to his and Charlie’s lunch table. She said something about going to a study session with friends for a test she had next period and bent down to kiss Charlie briefly on the mouth, and the whole thing looked so simple, and so practiced, so right for the two of them, and so nothing like Dean had ever had with anyone because he’d never wanted it and he’d always thought that stuff was stupid but now the image was filling his head and in his mind it wasn’t Charlie, it was Dean, and it wasn’t Jo, it was Cas...

_Shit._ That's what this was about. He liked Cas. He genuinely, truly, had feelings for his best friend and prom date, Castiel Novak. He wanted to do romantic things with Cas, not just to give Cas one good night to make up for last year, but to do things for him every day, all the time, maybe for a very long time. He wanted to end his phone calls with Cas by blowing kisses to each other over the phone. He wanted to rest his head in Cas’s lap as Cas tested him in preparation for their English final. He wanted to fall asleep next to Cas and have lazy morning sex with Cas and make Cas breakfast in bed. He wanted to stroke Cas’s hair when he was feeling sick and surprise him with passionate kisses in the doorway after they’d been apart for a while and fuck, he wanted to tell Cas he loved him and hear it back, with both of them knowing exactly in what way they meant it.

“Dean, are you alright?”

Dean turned to Charlie, who was still sitting next to him. “I think I like my prom date,” he blurted, before he had a chance to think about whether or not he should tell her.

Charlie frowned. “Well, that’s good, isn’t it? Prom’s supposed to be somewhere you go with someone you like, I mean-" She broke off. “Oh, shit, you’re going with Cas, aren’t you?”

Dean nodded.

“As friends.”

Dean nodded again.

“But when you say you like him, I’m guessing you mean as more than friends.”

“Yes, and prom has already been ruined for him once. I’m not going to do that to him again by telling him how I feel. This is his last chance to have a good prom night and I could never forgive myself if I was the one who messed it up.”

Charlie pursed her lips. “Do you not think he feels the same?”

Dean rolled his eyes. “What, just because he’s gay? That doesn’t automatically mean he likes me. I’m not his type at all. He goes for the pretty boys… What?” Dean stopped talking when he saw Charlie barely managing to contain her giggles.

“Sorry. I know this is a serious conversation, it’s just… you’re basically the prettiest boy there is.”

Dean looked offended. “Excuse me?”

“Don’t try to deny it, you know it’s true. You can wear your manly plaid shirts all you want but it doesn’t hide the fact that… you know what, never mind. That’s not what’s important here. Let’s talk about how you can get Cas to fall in love with you and solve all your problems.”

Dean was glad somebody else knew about his feelings for Cas, and that he didn’t have to freak out about this all by himself, but it was still an unwelcome piece of news. Why did he have to go fuck up this whole situation by catching feelings for Cas? He could have just invited Cas to go with him as friends. He should never have gone down the whole _date_ route. And yet deep down, he knew that it would never have made a difference. It wasn't that planning a date with Cas had made him want to actually date Cas. It was the fact that he wanted to actually date Cas that had made Dean ask him in the first place. Sure, to everyone else in the school it just seemed like Dean was trying to do something nice for his friend, but if Dean was honest with himself, his true feelings for Cas had been going on for a while now. Maybe even since last prom. Which meant that once again, Dean had done the selfish thing. Once again, he’d only thought of himself.

Well, fuck that. Backing out now would only make things worse, and he’d been repressing his feelings for a long time anyway. He could definitely manage another couple of weeks.  
Internally, he resolved to be the best fucking prom date Cas could ever dream of, and to never even hint again that he might genuinely like Cas.

His resolve was tested the very next day.

“Hey,” Cas said, dropping his tray down at Dean’s lunch table.

“Hey, babe,” Dean responded, the pet name slipping out automatically, as it had been ever since the ‘real date’ conversation had happened. Cas’s cheeks colored, as they always did, but that was only because he was uptight and wasn’t used to people showing affection to each other in public, Dean reminded himself. He really had to stop saying shit like that. 

“Are you alright?” Cas asked, concerned, leaning over the table to study Dean closer when he saw the change in Dean’s face.

Dean nodded, swallowing hard, and tried to look away casually. “Yeah, you know me… I’m totally fine, no problems here, just… eating my lunch.”

Cas raised an eyebrow. “You know, if there is anything wrong, ever, you can talk to me about it. I feel like I’m often unloading my problems onto you without even being invited, and-"

“Cas, that was one time,” Dean said, exasperated. The truth was, he wished this was a problem he could talk to Cas about. If he had just realized he liked anyone else in the world, then he knew that Cas would be the most supportive friend imaginable, and do everything possible to give Dean great advice and maybe get him together with whoever the person was. But when the person was Cas himself… well, that was a bit of a game changer.

Cas looked hurt and Dean immediately felt terrible for snapping at him. “I’m sorry,” he apologized immediately, instinctively reaching out a hand to rub Cas’s arm, but realizing halfway through that he definitely shouldn’t be doing that, and trying to subtly turn the movement into picking up a fry from his plate. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. It just hasn’t been a great morning, that’s all, but I shouldn’t be taking it out on you.”

Cas shrugged like it didn’t even matter. “Forget it. It’s not the morning any more, and I’ll do my very best to distract you from it all.”

That was yet another great thing about Cas. He always seemed to know exactly how to help Dean. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot of hope of Cas distracting Dean from… well, Cas.

Yeah, it was going to be a difficult couple of weeks.

Dean tossed and turned the night before the big day. Several times, he considered going into Sam's room to distract himself, but he really couldn't risk his brother figuring out the cause of his restlessness right now. Eventually, he went downstairs and switched on the TV, sitting in the same place he had been when he'd gotten the original call from Cas, almost exactly a year ago. At some point he must have fallen asleep on the couch, because he woke up late on prom day. Well, it was 10am, which wasn’t late by most peoples’ standards, but it was strange for him. He was glad it had happened, though. The less of this day that he had to spend sitting around freaking out about what was to come, the better. He was beginning to regret doing so much preparation in advance. 

In the end, after he’d made Sammy breakfast, washed the Impala, done a load of laundry and picked up the mail, he still had a good few hours to kill. There was no way he’d be able to concentrate on studying, so he decided to swing round the rental car place and see if they’d give it to him a little early, so that he could practice driving it before he went to pick up Cas. Last night’s renters had already returned the car, so Dean was able to pick it up without too much extra fuss. He drove out of the parking lot, made a right – and promptly knocked into one of those little trees growing on the sidewalk.

Shit. He was nervous.

Sure, the car was a lot bigger than he was used to, and it drove a little differently, but Dean knew that wasn’t the real reason he was making such a mess of this. He was taking Cas on a date tonight – an actual date, in every way except one, and he, Dean Winchester, was scared. Of going on a date. 

Why had he ever suggested this? Had he lost his mind in the early part of this year? 

He cursed himself, wildly thinking about any possible way he could get out of actually going but still make sure Cas had a great time, and barely even thought about what he was doing as he drove home, showered, spiked up his hair and pulled on his outfit for the night, then sat down in front of the TV to wait until it was time to go. But every character became Cas, and every line of dialogue somehow related to Cas, and even the commercials reminded him of Cas, and the whole thing was completely unbearable.

Finally, even though he knew he was still slightly early, he gave up. Stood up, grabbed his phone, wallet and the new car keys, and drove over to Cas’s house, blasting Led Zeppelin at maximum volume for good luck, and only making one quick detour on the way to pick something up from a convenience store.

When he pulled up in front of the Novak house, he had to physically stop himself from just turning around and leaving immediately.

Something about seeing that house just got to him. He’d been here so many times before, and it had always been completely normal, picking Cas up to go see a movie or dropping by to have dinner when he didn’t feel like cooking. Cas’s parents didn’t totally love Dean, but they tolerated him, and going to their house had become second nature. Now, though, it was completely different. Completely overwhelming. Dean wasn’t ready for this.

But then he saw movement in an upstairs window, and yes, that was definitely Cas standing up. Dean was sure he would have recognized his silhouette anywhere, even if he didn’t have the extra clue of it being Cas’s bedroom. And that reminded Dean of exactly why he was doing this. He knew there was just no way he could let Cas down. It didn’t matter how painful this was potentially going to be for Dean, being so close to having Cas for himself, but never quite getting there. He was going to do it anyway. This was for Cas. It was all about Cas.

Dean climbed out of the car and strode towards the front door. Right as he was about to knock, it swung inwards, revealing Cas all dressed up and ready to go.

And of course he managed to look even better in this tux than Dean had remembered. Dean had been hoping that repeatedly picturing Cas dressed like that over the past couple of weeks, in both innocent and not-so-innocent contexts, would have diluted its power somewhat, and meant that Cas couldn’t blow his mind just by _existing_ in that outfit. It had been wishful thinking. If anything, it was worse. The sight left Dean with a physical pain in his chest.

“Hey, Cas,” Dean said awkwardly, when Cas didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

“Hello, Dean,” Cas finally replied.

“I hope all this, tonight, is OK. I mean, I asked around, I talked to Jo and Meg and people trying to get advice, and I think I got everything just about right, but there was just so much to think about, and if I got something wrong, or if there’s something missing… well, then I’m really sorry. And if you can think of anything I've forgotten, then I hope there’s enough time for me to fix it. If you’re okay with being a bit late, that is. Unless that’s what you wanted anyway? You know, like some people want to be fashionably late to things? Do you want me to keep driving round the block for a while?”

Cas shook his head, a small smile on his face. “There’s really no need for that. I think I’d rather see everyone else arrive. And I’m sure you won’t have forgotten anything.”

Well, that had given Dean the perfect opening. “Except these, you mean?” he asked, and suddenly produced a bouquet of white roses from behind his back, offering them to Cas.

Cas let out a small gasp, eyes lighting up, and Dean was pleased that he’d managed to actually surprise him with something.

“You got me flowers?” Cas asked, disbelieving.

“Best ones they had at the Gas’n’Sip. It’s a shame you can’t really take them with you, but I thought you might like them anyway.”

“I don’t know about that,” Cas frowned. “I don’t see why we can’t take them with us.”

He pulled two stalks out of the arrangement, bit them so that they were a more appropriate length, and then leaned over to Dean and slid one of them into his buttonhole. Dean bit the inside of his cheek when he felt Cas’s hand brush against his chest. This wasn’t about him. This was Cas’s night. They were going to be touching some of the time, and Dean wasn’t going to let himself read into it, because he knew it didn’t mean anything.

Cas ran back into the house to put the remaining ten flowers in some water, and Dean closed his eyes to stop himself from checking out Cas’s ass in those tailored pants.

When Cas returned, Dean was standing by the front passenger seat of the car, holding the door open for him.

Cas had been right. When they reached the hotel, the parking lot was still mostly empty, and it was easy for Dean to casually swing the car into a space near the entrance, feeling particularly glad he’d done that extra practice. Dean jumped out of the car and dashed around the front to open Cas’s door before he had the chance. Cas opened his mouth to say something, but Dean just took his hand, swinging it gently between them as they walked towards the steps of the hotel.

There was an actual red carpet draped across the steps, leading them into the foyer, and it was the cheesiest thing Dean had ever seen but he felt his heart twitch as he and Castiel stepped onto it, and maybe cheesy wasn’t always so bad.

He felt Cas squeeze his hand slightly as they walked through the huge wooden doors, already propped open with a huge, glittery sign inside saying ‘Lawrence High School Prom This Way.’ He turned to smile at Cas, and saw he was looking worried.

“Dean, you don’t have to do this. I know that up til now it’s just been a bit of fun between us, and it’s been great… but we go in there, holding hands, and suddenly everyone sees. And I don’t know what kind of conclusions they’re going to jump to. And I don’t want you to have to deal with that, because trust me, I've been there and it's not fun at all. So, we don’t have to do the whole date thing anymore. We can just… you know, hang out.”

In front of them, a girl with dark hair and a bright pink floor length dress held tightly to the arm of a guy who looked vaguely like Dean, from the back. Dean idly wondered what it would be like to be here with someone like her. The thought was strange. The girl was vaguely familiar – Dean thought he might have chatted with her at a party once – and he was sure she was a nice person, but no, it wouldn't feel right being here with anybody but Cas. Cas, beautiful Cas, with his fluffy hair and his hand that fit perfectly in Dean’s…

And yeah, it was true that Dean really, really wasn’t looking forward to Monday at school, when he knew he’d have to deal with a bunch of kids saying “So, what, you and that Novak kid are dating now?” and Dean would have to tell them no, and he’d have to try to hide the sadness in his voice when he said it.

But he could deal with one bad day, so long as Cas got this one perfect night.

“Don’t be stupid, Cas. We graduate in three weeks. You think I care about what people say by this point?” And he curled his fingers tighter around Cas’s.

After that little speech, Dean almost expected there to be a huge commotion when they went into the main ballroom, as though everyone would be waiting for them to arrive. Almost like it was their wedding or something, Dean thought before kicking himself. But no – the few couples and groups of friends who were already there were talking amongst themselves, drinking punch, tapping their feet to the music playing quietly over speakers in the background. They didn’t even notice Dean and Cas. And so Dean decided to get their photo taken while the line was still short.

He’d known better than to ask, earlier, if Mr and Mrs Novak would want to take pictures in the garden, because he knew the answer. They’d have been more than happy to take pictures of Cas and his date, if Cas was going with a girl. They’d probably be okay with it if it was just Cas and a group of guy friends, so long as they were completely platonic. But Cas and just one other guy? A guy who was very obviously and openly going as his date? They’d never been able to get their head around that idea, and Dean knew it was still a sore point for Cas. Cas's brother probably would have agreed to take them, but Dean hadn’t ever suggested it, figuring that Cas would probably want to get away from the house as quickly as possible. 

But now, nobody was going to stop Dean from making sure Cas got the best prom photos possible.

They stepped in front of the screen, and the photographer crouched down, ready. First, Dean put his arm around Cas and pressed their cheeks together. Then, he turned to the side, almost kissing Cas’s cheek, leaving a tiny bit of air between them but close enough that he could feel the warmth of Cas’s skin. After that, he turned side on, hugging Cas from behind and turning both their faces to grin at the camera. Then, he got down on one knee, pretending to propose to a bemused Cas; and finally, because what the hell, he swept Cas up into his arms, staggering under the extra weight but managing to hold him in the air until the flash went off.

Cas lost it as Dean half put him down, half dropped him on the floor, bursting out into giggles that set Dean off as well. “What the hell was that?” Cas asked once they’d cleared the photo booth.

“I dunno, Cas. Maybe in thirty years’ time, you’ll have a kid who’s going to prom, and they’ll ask about yours. You gotta have something cool to show them, right?”

Cas shook his head, but he was still smiling, and Dean called that a win.

The ballroom was busier now, and before long, people were starting to head over to their tables for dinner. Dean had managed to swing it so they were sharing a table mostly with people he was already friends with who were going to be totally cool with the two of them, and in the end the only one who gave them any funny looks at all was a girl called Ruby at the next table over. 

“Is she bothering you?” Dean whispered to Cas over their Caesar salads, “because I can go over there and say something to her. It’s really not a problem.”

Cas shook his head. “You know I’m used to this kind of thing. I’m sure she’s just jealous because she doesn’t have a date as great as mine.”

Dean agreed, keeping his face very serious. Secretly he was a little disappointed. He’d been rather looking forward to defending Cas’s honor.

But Cas just changed the subject and started getting really excited about the starry decorations on the ceiling – _it looks like we’re outside, Dean_ – that he’d only just noticed for the first time, and he was just so _cute_ when he was excited, so Dean was okay with this turn of events too.

They were halfway through their chocolate tortes before Dean realized that both of them had barely spoken to anybody else all meal, having been just too caught up in each other.

When the meal was over and all the tables cleared, the band started to play, and most of the couples headed out onto the dance floor. This was where things got awkward. Dean just didn’t consider himself a dancer. Sure, he’d tried to watch a bunch of YouTube videos in preparation for this, but he’d been forced to stop doing that after Sam had walked in on him that one time, guessed that it was for Cas, and hadn’t stopped laughing at him until… well, he still hadn’t stopped laughing, actually. Theoretically, Dean knew how to slow dance with somebody, but translating it into real life wasn't as easy.

Dean held both his arms out awkwardly towards Cas, frowning at his hands, studying them, trying to figure out where exactly he should put them.

“You okay there?” Cas asked, smiling indulgently at him, and Dean realized that everyone else around them had already started moving to the gentle music, while he was just standing there confused.

“Yeah, of course, I just… where am I supposed to put these?”

Cas couldn’t help laughing, and Dean felt embarrassed. He should have worked harder at this. And everything had been going so well...

“It’s okay. Here, you can just… put your hands here, and here.” He guided both of Dean’s hands down to his waist. “And then I’ll put mine up here.” He moved his own hands to Dean’s neck, and Dean almost flinched at the spark that ran through him. “How’s that? Feel okay?”

It felt better than okay, and the only thing Dean wanted in the entire world was to lean close into Cas, to tighten his arms around him and take away the inches of air that remained between them and feel Cas against him. 

“Yeah. It’s good. So now we just kinda… walk?”

Cas chuckled. “I suppose that is all there is to it. Walking… rhythmically.”

“Okay, I’ll walk rhythmically with you, Cas,” Dean laughed, and took a step to the side. He’d thought they would end up crashing into other people, but Cas was tilting them so they were kind of moving in a circle, and it was working, and they weren’t even tripping over their own feet, and Dean tried really hard to let himself loosen up and get into it and not feel like a gangly thirteen year old who hadn’t grown into his body yet.

And yet, almost without anybody realizing, the band were speeding up, each song ever so slightly faster and more energetic than the last, and the dancing was speeding up to match, couples beginning to knock into one another as they struggled to match their carefully controlled dancing with the new fast pace, and after half an hour, everyone had given up all pretense of dancing in a pair. Dean checked every so often to make sure that Cas was still next to him and still having a good time, but mostly, both of them just let themselves be carried by the crowd, jumping in the air, shaking their arms and singing along with the wrong lyrics. Before long, both of them had completely lost track of time, and neither could tell you whether they’d heard three songs or thirty.

Finally, the band returned to their quieter songs and the pace slowed down, and the two of them stopped moving, panting and exhausted. Dean could see the sweat running down Cas’s forehead. “We need to get you something to drink,” he said, guiding Cas towards the drink table and pouring him a cup of punch. The two of them leaned against the wall, and Dean was struck with the sudden realization that even Cas aside, this whole prom thing was actually kind of fun. He still couldn’t entirely see how some people saw it as the most important night of their entire lives, but he was having a good time.

“Thanks,” Cas accepted the drink and chugged it down in a single mouthful. Dean refilled the cup, and the two of them observed the room together while they waited for their breathing to slow and their legs to stop hurting. 

“So, what will it be now, date of mine?” Dean smiled when they were done with their second drinks, offering his arm to Cas. “We could dance some more… we could take a walk outside… we could try to figure out who’s hiding the alcohol. The night is yours.”

Cas didn’t reply. Dean turned to the side and saw that Ca was looking away from him, arms folded, an expression on his face that Dean had never seen before.

“Cas, you alright?”

“I’m fine, I just- I can’t do this, I can’t be your date. I’m sorry, I know you put a ton of effort into this night, but I can’t.”

He turned away from the table and darted through the dancefloor, somehow managing to avoid stepping on anyone’s toes. Dean saw him leave the room and quickly ran after him, scared of losing him. What was this? Had Cas somehow figured out how Dean really felt about him? Was he disgusted? Did he think Dean had taken advantage of him?

“Cas!” Dean called as he went.

He needn’t have worried. Once he was out of the ballroom, there were only a few people around, and he could easily see Cas, leaning against the wall in a corridor leading to another part of the hotel, breathing heavily, holding his face in his hands. Dean hoped to God he wasn’t crying; Cas crying was something that should never be allowed to happen. And Dean certainly thought he should never be the cause of it.

“Cas?” Dean spoke far more gently now, his mouth close to Cas’s ear.

Cas parted his fingers so that he could speak. “I really am sorry, Dean. But you’re here now. And you might as well try to have fun. Go find a girl to dance with, you know they’ve all been looking at you.”

“But I don’t want to dance with a girl!” Dean was frustrated now. “I want to dance with you.” Cas obviously already knew somehow. He might as well start being honest

Cas shook his head. “Don’t say things like that. This is last year all over again.”

“Last year- How is this like last year? I was trying to make this the exact opposite of last year!”

Cas shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s not. It’s the same. It’s just some guy who’s way too good for me pretending that he likes me and wants to take me to the prom, but at the end of the night, none of it’s real, is it? It doesn’t mean anything. And I know it’s just a stupid prom and none of it really means anything, but… I just wish that for once, when someone said they wanted to be my date, they wanted it… in the same way that I wanted it.”

Wait, _what?_

This was even worse than Dean had thought. Cas didn't think Dean cared about him like that. But he still didn't want to be here with him.

He clenched his hand into a fist. How could he have not thought about it like this? He hadn’t realized that by asking Cas to be his date, he was stopping Cas from maybe being able to go with someone that he actually wanted to take. Someone Cas actually liked. Obviously he hadn’t been going to turn Dean down after the whole thing had been so public, but in private he must have been wishing... Dean should never have asked him in the first place.

“Wow. I guess it’s me that should be apologizing, then, isn’t it? Should have given you the chance to go with someone you actually had feelings for.”

Cas finally moved his hands away from his face, and blinked those big blue eyes at Dean. “That’s just the thing. You did. But that person doesn’t like me back.”

It took a moment, and then…

Dean’s heart stopped.

Had Cas just said…?

“Wait. Are you talking about me? You like me?” It was all he could manage to say.

“Oh, yeah, tell the whole building, it’s not like there are a thousand other kids around who are going to make this awkward as hell on Monday…” Cas took a deep breath. "Yeah. I like you. I can't help it. I know you flirt with everyone and it doesn't mean anything, but just seeing you makes me smile, and just hearing you talk automatically makes my day a good day. Even just doing normal things with you, it makes my life feel more exciting, and more worth living. I'm sorry. I know you don't feel the same and you'll probably hate me now, but I can't help it."

“Why would you just assume that I don’t like you back?”

Cas looked disapproving. “Why would I assume anything else?”

Dean gestured down to himself. “I don’t know. This. The fact that I said I’d never go to a prom but here I am, dressed up in a suit just cause I thought it would make you happy. The fact that I haven’t slept with a single girl since I asked you to be my date. The fact that I’d rather talk to you about shitty TV shows than go out partying. The fact that I never cared about school or my future until I met you. The fact that whenever I see you sad, I drop everything, no matter how important it is, to help you, because you’ll always come first with me. The fact that whenever we’re in the same room, I can’t keep my goddamn eyes off you…”

Cas’s mouth had fallen open, and he looked blankly at Dean, like he didn’t understand. “You... Dean... I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Good,” Dean replied, and then, when Cas frowned in confusion, Dean leaned forward and gently pressed his lips against Cas’s, the two of them falling into a deep kiss in the semi-dark corridor.

It was soft and slow and intense and to Dean, it was everything Cas was, but amplified somehow, and it was hands down the best kiss Dean had ever had.

After a moment, Dean pulled away, because it was all too much – he was kissing a guy, he was kissing his friend, he was kissing _Cas_ – and it was so many things he had to try and work his way through at once.

“You okay?” Cas whispered from maybe two inches in front of his face. His voice was somehow even deeper than usual, his lips bigger, his eyes bluer. Or maybe Dean was just really allowing himself to appreciate them all for the first time.

And suddenly, it occurred to Dean that as long as Cas was here, he was pretty sure he’d always be okay.

He nodded and ran his thumb down the stubble on Cas’s cheek as he pulled him in for a second kiss, this one more intense than the first. He slipped his tongue into Cas’s mouth.  
Cas grabbed his shoulder, and for a horrible second Dean thought Cas was about to push him away. But he didn’t. He held Dean’s arm tight and guided him to the bathroom signposted across the hall, refusing to let go of him, kissing him harder all the time as they tried to push the door out of the way and make it into the relative privacy of the men’s room.

Dean pulled away for just long enough to glance around and check there was nobody in any of the stalls, before his lips were on Cas’s again, and quite clearly this was what he had been meant to be doing his entire life, and why the hell had it taken him this long? He could feel himself getting hard just from kissing Cas, and that hadn’t happened since his first ever kiss, but what the hell. This had been a long time coming.

Dean moved his head to the side, kissing along Cas’s jawline and up to his ear, and Cas cried out now that his mouth was free, the sound echoing throughout the bathroom, but there were more important things right now, like the feel of Cas’s arms under Dean’s hands and the way he leaned into every single touch and how his eyes screwed shut and his head tilted back whenever Dean found a particularly sensitive spot.

“Fucking hell, Cas,” Dean panted as he pressed Cas into the bathroom wall. 

He heard Cas whimper as their bodies pressed together, and then Cas asked, “Shouldn’t we go home and then do this?”

Dean ground his cock into Cas’s, and found that Cas was already as hard as he was, so- “Can you wait until we get home?”

Cas shook his head, understanding Dean’s point, and moved to suck on the only part of Dean’s neck that was left exposed by the tux. 

“Cas…” Dean moaned, rubbing himself harder against Cas, using the bathroom wall and Cas’s shoulder to keep himself upright. He felt Cas move a hand down his back to grab at Dean’s ass, pulling them impossibly closer together. Cas was everywhere, surrounding him, and it was all too much for Dean to handle. 

“Shit, Cas, I’m going to-" He buried his face in Cas’s shoulder and fucking whined, hips faltering as he tried to continue thrusting towards Cas through his orgasm, making a mess in his expensive pants.

He held tight to Cas as Cas continued to thrust against his leg for another few seconds, until Cas seized up, letting out a loud groan that Dean thought might have been his name, and he felt even more wetness seep onto his leg.

The two of them held each other close for as long as they felt they could justify, considering anyone could walk in.

“Well, that was embarrassing,” Dean mumbled after a moment. “I swear I don’t normally-"

Cas laughed, but then looked down at the ground, suddenly shy. “I know. And don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone. But hey, that was pretty good, right?”

“You think?” Dean smirked.

There was another pause, during which they just smiled at each other, both already thinking about the next time they might get a chance to do this.

“Hey, want to get back out there?” Cas jerked his thumb towards the door, towards where the party was still going on.

Dean glanced down at his pants. “Looking like this?”

“Dean, this is my last prom, and-"

Dean groaned. “Oh, shit, you’re serious, aren’t you?” He was answered with a wad of paper towels being thrust in his face.

“You promised you were going to be my real date and while I admit that you have gone above and beyond my expectations, I do still expect the last slow dance of the night.”

And if there had been no way Dean could ever deny Cas anything _before_ thus, well, he already knew that now things were going to be ten times worse.

Dean held Cas in his arms as the band played some cheesy 80s soft rock crap, the two of them barely moving, just swaying ever so slightly together, heads rested on each other’s shoulders, Dean blinking his eyes rapidly to ensure no tears made their way past. Not until he got home, at least. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew that it was the end of high school, and that in a couple of months everything would change, and he and Cas would be in different places. It would be difficult for them and there was no guarantee things would work out for the two of them. Every atom of his heart hoped they made it, but he had to acknowledge the possibility. Not yet, though. For now, it was more than enough just to keep Cas close to him, and to be the best… boyfriend, he supposed… that he could possibly be.

Boyfriend. He was Cas's boyfriend.

After denying the possibility for so long, he was shocked at how easily he thought he could get used to that idea.

He looked up for a moment, and caught Charlie’s eye, dancing with Jo in a similar way. She raised an eyebrow at him, questioning, and he nodded, breaking out in a smile. She looked so excited that Jo noticed, and pulled away from Charlie to ask what was happening.

Dean let Charlie explain. He was nowhere near ready to let go of Cas.

The following morning, Cas and Dean made their way down to the kitchen; unshowered and still only half awake, hoping to grab some food and coffee before going back upstairs to get a little more time to themselves. Cas poked his head into the room first to ensure the coast was clear. Mr and Mrs Novak had already been in bed when the two of them had arrived back last night, and even though it hadn’t been part of the original plan for the night and was probably an incredibly bad move, Cas just hadn’t been able to resist asking Dean to stay over. The two of them hadn’t dropped off until six in the morning, after spending the night just holding each other, occasionally speaking or leaning over to kiss the other on the nose, Dean wearing an old pair of Cas’s pajama pants. Just existing. Together.

The kitchen was parent-free, but Cas’s brother Gabe was inside, flipping strawberry pancakes onto a stack he’d already made. He offered plates to the two boys as they headed into the room, apparently completely unsurprised to see Dean there too.

“Hey, guys. How was prom?”

Cas turned to smile at Dean, who beamed back, before offering up a “Much better than last year.”


End file.
